The recent history (1900 to present) of the Republic of Nicaragua is very fascinating and very detailed, but I’d like to give a very brief summary and idea of what politics are like here currently in the country.
1937-1979 (with some gaps): Somoza regime-- 3 different leaders from the same family (Somoza) are president during this time, basically dictators (not good, although some people argue that the country was in fairly decent economic condition during some of the time)
1972: big, bad earthquake- flattens Managua. International aid floods in, but Somoza takes a lot of it for himself and has the audacity to sell the water and food to people. Ridiculously corrupt-- anti-Somoza sentiment increases internally and externally
1978: Chamorro, editor of La Prensa, which was pretty critical of the Somoza leader, assassinated. This pretty much sparks the....
1979: Revolution, and overthrow of the Somoza government by the Sandinista party
1980 and a couple years afterwards: Civil war between Sandinistas and the Contras (people who didn't want the Sandinistas in power), which were quite a minority but had decent strength because the US secretly funded them (thanks to Reagan). They were funded because the Sandinistas were strongly influenced by Marxist teachings and were a socialist party. And, remember, this is the late 80s. [In 1983 US congress prohibited funding of the Contras, so the Reagan administration continued to back the Contras by covertly selling arms to Iran and channeling the proceeds to the Contras (known as the Iran-Contra affair). The war was REALLY bad.
Taken from here
1984, 1990: free and fair elections. Sandinistas won the first, but lost the second to Violeta Chamorro (widow of the editor of La Prensa). Today, everyone loves this woman and she seemed to have done a good job. She inherited an economy in ruins, though, mostly because of the war.
So the history goes on (duh) but right now Daniel Ortega (a Sandinista who was pretty important during the revolution) is president. From what I understand he is attempting to change the constitution (because it is unconstitutional). There is a clause which says that a person cannot run in an election if they just served a term. There is another clause which says that all people are created equal, thus causing a contradiction: If everyone is equal then why should the current president not be able to run two times in a row? Even though I’m pretty sure the constitution hasn’t been changed, you wouldn’t be able to tell with all of the billboards displaying his big smiling face all over the city (and, well, the country).
The original colors of the FSLN (Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional- Sandinista National Liberation Front) are black and red. The colors and propaganda for the party appear all over; light posts are painted black and red, the letters FSLN are graffiti-ed everywhere, the famous silhouette of Sandino (who the party is named after) is on building sides and formed into statues, etc. [Ironically the party is named after Sandino, a farmer who stood up against the US military occupation in Nicaragua in the late 20s early 30s. He was assassinated by Somoza in 1934, years before the revolution started. The revolutionaries in the late 70s early 80s used his positive image for their party when they overthrew the corrupt Somoza government.] Ortega is trying to mix things up a bit by changing the party colors to pink, yellow, and blue. His slogan for 2011 is ‘2011: Unity for the Common Good… Let’s keep changing Nicaragua! Christian, socialist, solidarity!’ (sounds better in Spanish).
I think if I had been alive during the revolution (most people reading this probably were!) I would have been a Sandinista. They promoted great change and have done many wonderful things in the country. However from my current perspective their goals have changed over the years and they do many things with which I disagree. For example, the Sandinistas frequently have marches to rally support for the party. They close main streets and play loud music while hundreds of people walk around waving black and red flags, wearing new t-shirts with the president’s slogan. The last big event included one or two days where the marchers were pasting bumper stickers in the shape of a soccer jersey onto cars at traffic lights, some black and red and others pink and blue. They say ‘DANIEL’ for the name and sport the number 2 (number of the political party).
Taken from here
The marches are not really that big of a deal (except for the traffic jams which result). However, many of the people parading around in Sandinista get-up are forced to be there. All government workers receive the t-shirt of that particular march and must participate. If they don’t they can be fired for being anti-Sandinista. Not to mention all of the money being wasted by Ortega to print out a different shirt every time, to provide flags for the workers, to provide transportation with use of government vehicles… The only reason I know this is because I have a ‘liberal’ friend who works for the government but has to pretend she’s a Sandinista in order to keep her job.
Ooooo, there’s so much I want to write but… perhaps I’ll continue another time. Meanwhile, please pray for Nicaraguans as they are heading into their upcoming elections in November. It could mean the start of a dictatorship or another uprising… This is a beautiful country and it would be great to have peaceful and fair elections (difficult in any country).
The information above is taken from Wikipedia, my friend Nadia Schafer, and my observations. It is history with opinion thrown in. Feel free to research more.
